Thursday, January 14, 2010

By the time I cam around to comic books in college, Kitty Pryde was kind of before my time. My main entry introduction to the X-men was through the Saturday morning and after-school cartoon show from the '90s where Jubilee had been firmly placed as the precocious young upstart/plucky kid side-kick to Wolverine.

But where Kitty Pryde DID deeply affect my growing up is kind of circuitous: Kitty was Joss Whedon's inspiration for Buffy, his most iconic character to date. All that woman power, feministy, girls-kick-ass-too-ness found in Buffy was all wrapped up in the adorable package that is Kitty Pride.

So, as a newcomer to comics, I fell in love with Kitty for entirely different reasons and contexts. But when she ultimately sacrificed herself at the end of Whedon's run on Astonishing X-men, I was brutally crushed. I knew that she was going to have to die. I mean... it was being written by JOSS WHEDON. The fan favorite always gets the axe. But even knowing it was coming didn't cushion me from the emotional blow.